“This is a recommendation. There have been situations before when Croatia did not follow the EU recommendations, so when it comes to American citizens, it will not this time either. We know that Americans mostly come to us as tourists, which means that they have met all the epidemiological conditions for coming,” said Interior Minister Davor Božinović on Tuesday from Brussels, where he participated in a meeting of interior ministers of EU member states.

Apart from the U.S., the EU also removed Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro and North Macedonia from the list of safe countries, meaning travellers from those countries would undergo tighter border controls, such as coronavirus tests and quarantine.

Božinović says that Croatian epidemiologists estimate that American citizens do not pose a risk to Croatia, just as Israeli citizens do not, Jutarnji list reported.

The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from a list of safe countries for nonessential travel comes after the EU recommended lifting restrictions on U.S. tourists ahead the summer tourism season back in June. 

The European Council updates the safe travel list fortnightly. The criteria is based on coronavirus infection levels with the threshold of not having more than 75 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last 14 days.